Abstract
“A neglect of the citizen”: No less was attested to political science in its present state by 2009 Economics Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom. During an interview, she illustrated her criticism with the observation that once, while waiting at a meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), she had been asked why she was reading a book on peasants. Political science, she had been reminded, “was about presidents, parties, and Congress” (Toonen 2010: 197).
Increasingly expected to help resolve citizens’ difficulties, the discipline—perceived as fragmented and method-driven—faces the challenge of becoming more relevant, more comprehensible, and (where necessary) more critical of governments, political and business elites.
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Eisfeld, R. (2019). Improving the Human Condition. In: Empowering Citizens, Engaging the Public. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5928-6_1
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